Jeonbuk Launches Korea's First Commercialized Autonomous Cargo Transport

118km One-Way Paid Service Launched Between Gunsan and Daejeon

Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province has ushered in the era of autonomous driving commercialization by launching the nation’s first paid transport service using autonomous large cargo trucks.

On July 9, the provincial government announced the commencement of its autonomous cargo paid transport service, operating one-way for 118 kilometers from the Gunsan special express cargo customs yard, via the Hanjin Jeonju Terminal, to the Daejeon Mega Hub.

A self-driving commercial vehicle undergoing a test drive on an actual road. Provided by Gunsan City Hall

This service marks the first full-scale operation following the province’s designation last year as a pilot zone for wide-area transport autonomous vehicles, and after receiving the first-ever government approval in May from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for paid autonomous cargo transport in Korea.

The service runs on a regular schedule three times a week. Tata Daewoo Mobility, a local company based in Jeonbuk, is providing its 25-ton heavy-duty truck, the ‘MAXEN’, which is equipped with RideFlux’s AI-based autonomous driving software. This is recognized as a representative case of commercializing the integration of commercial vehicle manufacturing technology and autonomous driving technology.

On this route, the entire cargo transport process—from trunk-line logistics between logistics hubs to unmanned docking within terminals—is conducted autonomously.

The results of autonomous driving have demonstrated that long-haul trunk logistics, unmanned docking within terminals, data accumulation through repeated operations, route optimization, and stabilization of nighttime transport are all possible. This proves that autonomous logistics is a sufficiently viable model for the business-to-business (B2B) logistics market.

In particular, given that long-distance, repetitive operations are common in cargo transport, the reduction of driver working hours and fatigue is expected to help address the shortage of drivers, lower logistics costs, and establish a more stable delivery system in the future.

This achievement is based on the commercial vehicle autonomous driving demonstration infrastructure that Jeonbuk Province has steadily built around Saemangeum.

The province has established commercial vehicle test tracks and autonomous driving testbeds, and is promoting a demonstration support project for autonomous transport commercial vehicles. This has enabled Korea’s highest-level verification system, capable of validating Level 3 functions and demonstrating Level 4 technologies.

Additionally, through the 2022 Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy public project, ‘Saemangeum Autonomous Transport Commercial Vehicle Demonstration Support Infrastructure Project’, a total project cost of 37.8 billion won was invested to establish real-road-based autonomous transport infrastructure and a digital hub system.

Yang Sunhwa, Director General of the Department of Future Advanced Industries at Jeonbuk Province, stated, “This paid autonomous cargo transport service demonstrates that Jeonbuk’s commercial vehicle industry is expanding beyond manufacturing into the future mobility service sector. We will further advance unmanned autonomous transport technology and expand these services throughout logistics and across all industrial sites.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.